


Just One Visit

by kyanitedragon



Series: Hidekane Oneshots [5]
Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2020-11-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:40:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27609110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyanitedragon/pseuds/kyanitedragon
Summary: After a few months of being separated from Hide, Kaneki decides to come back and visit him
Relationships: Kaneki Ken | Sasaki Haise & Nagachika Hideyoshi
Series: Hidekane Oneshots [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1211751
Comments: 3
Kudos: 34





	Just One Visit

Kaneki and Hide were walking through the 20th Ward late at night. Kaneki couldn’t stay away from Hide any longer. He had to come visit him. 

...Okay, no. That's not how it happened.

Kaneki had to be honest with himself, at least.

Let's start at the beginning.

Today, Kaneki had been having a bad day. He was greatly missing Touka and Anteiku, but mostly Hide. He had been in moods like this before, and for once his gang had convinced him to come out of his room. For a while they all sat in the living room together and chatted as they tried to cheer up Kaneki. And for a while, it had worked to distract him. Then Banjou headed out to pick up food, and his followers went along for the walk. Tsukiyama hadn’t been there, and Kaneki didn't care enough to know where he was at the moment. That just left Hinami who stayed at their apartment with Kaneki.

Kaneki and her had been sitting beside each other in silence, each reading a different Sen Takatsuki book. Well, Kaneki was doing more dwelling on his thoughts than reading the book.

He ended up ranting to Hinami about how he missed Hide, and he pulled out his phone and looked at the latest of the texts from Hide. Even after all this time, Hide still sent several daily updates about his life. Anything from boring schoolwork, to where he went for dinner, to random stuff he found while walking around town, to how boring his homework was, to always saying goodnight and then good morning the next day. Kaneki hadn't gotten around to reading them until now. All this time he had been too afraid to see what Hide had been messaging him. He thought he would be getting angry and heartbroken messages and demands for answers. 

"Imagine if I could just make everything go back to normal!" Kaneki ranted to Hinami. "If I could just, like... Invite him to Big Girl like old times..." 

Kaneki smirked as he typed a message into the text box. He wrote _"Wanna go to Big Girl? My treat!"_

_If only things could be that simple... If only I could be human again and still enjoy burgers..._

"Why can't you?" Hinami asked.

Kaneki laughed bitterly. He wished he had as much hope as Hinami did. "I haven't seen him in...!" Kaneki took a moment to count. "Wow, it's already been half a year..."

"I'm sure he'd like to see you."

"I'd like to see him too. But at the same time... I don't want to face him..." Kaneki sighed.

Hinami reached for his phone, and Kaneki let her take it. Let her see how silly Hide is and why Kaneki loved him so much.

_Whoosh._

Kaneki's blood ran cold.

"…Hinami-chan, what did you just do?"

He was hearing things. He had to be! That sound was just in his mind, or it came from somewhere else in the apartment or from outside. It wasn't his phone. It wasn't the sound of a message being sent. Of _that_ message being sent. Why would Hinami do that?

Ugh, why did he even write it in the first place?! He knew he should have deleted it before someone accidentally hit send!

"I sent your message to him." Hinami replied happily.

Kaneki snatched his phone back and looked at the screen to make sure. He groaned and plopped the phone face-down on the couch between them.

"What's wrong? I just wanted to help. You said you wanted to, and it sounds like he would too. I know how much anxiety you can get over simple stuff like that, so I did it for you! I thought your message sounded fine."

"Hinami-chan..." Kaneki sighed. "It's not that easy."

"Of course it is!" Hinami smiled.

"Hinami-chan. He's human."

"So? Onee-chan has a human friend too."

"And Big Girl is a restaurant."

"O-oh. So you meant that message as a joke?"

"Y-yeah." Kaneki said. It was more nostalgia-based than Kaneki making a joke, but Hinami’s assumption seemed easier to explain to the young ghoul girl who knew little to nothing about human life.

Hinami sighed. "I'm sorry. I messed up." She took the phone back from Kaneki, looked at her mistake, and pouted.

"It's... It's okay. You didn't know." Kaneki told her, gently rubbing her back.

 _Meeting with Hide again..._ Kaneki thought about the situation he was in. _6 months... Gosh, it's been so long since I've seen him. A-and, it would just be a visit. One visit couldn't hurt, right? And I'm able to fake eating human food now._

His chest ached. He had Hinami and Banjou, but he was still lonely. He wanted to see Hide; he really did.

Kaneki looked at the clock on the wall. "It's late. It's 9:00. He probably already went to dinner."

"Onii-chan."

"I don't even know if Big Girl is open at this hour! He'll say no anyway!" Kaneki continued.

At this point, he was trying to convince himself out of it. The idea of meeting Hide was starting to sound good.

_It won't work out. Don't get your hopes up._

_Maybe Hide will reschedule instead!_

_...But even then, you'll probably change your mind about it tomorrow._

He went back and forth in his mind.

"Onii-chan!" Hinami said, louder this time as she shook Kaneki to get his attention. "He said yes." She handed him the phone again.

**Hide: Okay! Meet you there! :D**

Kaneki blinked. _W-what?_

He sent another message.

**Kaneki: ...Now?**

Hide responded instantly.

**Hide: Ya! I'll beat you there! ;-)**

"Are you going to go?" Hinami asked.

 _Am I?_ Kaneki asked himself.

He shouldn't.

But he wanted to.

It would just cause problems!

But he really wanted to.

...Just one visit. 

And so, after 6 months Kaneki was finally traveling back to the 20th Ward. It was rather far away from where he had been staying, so it had taken Kaneki a while to get there. During the trip Hide hadn't texted him, and he hadn't texted Hide either.

Anxiety plagued Kaneki the whole way to Big Girl. _This was a mistake. He'll have questions. He might even find out you're a ghoul. You changed too much. And not just physically. You're pretty much a different person now. Not Kaneki Ken anymore. Not his friend. He might not like you anymore. You know he won't._

Kaneki looked at the time. Surely Hide wouldn't have been waiting for him this long.

_I'll just walk past the building so I can say I didn't see him if he asks about it. I can go home and reschedule and I can choose later if I actually want to meet up with him._

So Kaneki did just that. Problem is... Hide _was_ waiting.

And once they locked eyes, Kaneki couldn't move.

\---

Hide was really strange when he wanted to be. Kaneki had just randomly invited Hide to go to a very late dinner at Big Girl, after six months of being missing. Kaneki now had white hair and a new style of clothes and a new eyepatch. Aside from a long, tight hug from Hide as soon as Hide saw him, they entered the restaurant and sat down, and ordered food and ate and talked like they had just seen each other at school yesterday.

Kaneki had worried that Hide would ask him questions. He worried what Hide would ask. How well he would be able to lie. How much of it Hide would be able to see through, and what Hide would put together, and what conclusions Hide would make. It still bothered Kaneki now, but those thoughts had been pushed to the back of his mind as they chatted.

Hide acted like everything was _normal_. That nothing had happened between them. They talked like old friends. Like the best friends they had been before he became a half-ghoul. So Kaneki choked down that disgusting food and smiled and laughed at Hide's jokes and funny stories. And it was genuine! He was having a great time! Something, anything, could still go wrong, but for the moment, Kaneki felt like he was back home and everything was right in the world.

Once they finished their meals (and Kaneki paid for both of their meals, just as he had unintentionally promised in that text earlier) Kaneki offered to walk Hide home. He knew Touka always did that for Yoriko to protect her, and he felt he should do the same for Hide, just in case. 

It had been two hours since they first met up now, and Hide still hadn’t asked about his sudden disappearance. As they got closer and closer to Hide’s apartment, Kaneki got more and more nervous for the inevitable question. Maybe he should just leave now before that question came up. 

And then Kaneki got whiff of someone who smelled strongly of ghoul. 

Kaneki never had a good sense of smell. All other ghouls could easily detect if someone was human or ghoul, male or female, but Kaneki could never figure out the difference. But for this person, it was obvious. The scent of ghoul was strong, and he could smell stale blood—both human and ghoul—on them. 

He was just about to suggest to Hide that they should take another way, when he was sent flying into the side of a building. He made a deep impact into the brick wall before proceeding to fall onto the concrete and lose consciousness.

He woke up to having a very sore head and the smell of blood. Fresh blood. Human blood. Hide's blood.

Fear and rage and guilt overtook him, and he unleashed his kagune immediately and shot it forwards, impaling the ghoul. He walked around so that he could see their face. It was covered in blood that wasn’t their own. Kaneki didn’t hesitate as he continued to stab and tear apart the body to make sure there was no chance of them regenerating and surviving. Then he retracted his kagune and dropped down to Hide’s level, whose body was slumped against the alley wall. He was unconscious.

Kaneki reached out to help him, but was stopped when the smell of human blood hit him again. His nostrils flared, and his stomach growled. He wasn’t that hungry; he had eaten earlier in the day and he had just eaten human food at Big Girl too. But for so long he had been eating only ghouls — ghouls that always tasted disgusting. It had been so long since he had human meat. 

Kaneki pulled his hand back. Maybe he could make an anonymous call to the CCG and then make a run for it. They could save Hide, as well as take care of the ghoul’s corpse.

Kaneki reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, but hesitated. He would need to get rid of it after calling to make sure the CCG didn’t track it. Loosing contact with Hide was what he had to give up in order to save Hide's life. 

_How unfair..._

“Kaneki?” Hide asked, his voice full of pain. Kaneki flinched, and the phone slipped out of his grip and clattered against the ground.

 _He's awake?!_

Hide's eyes wandered to the mutilated body of the ghoul. “Is he dead? How? Oh, what a relief, I don’t care how! Hey, are you okay? Cuz if you are, I really need some help here.” Hide had a rather large bite on his upper arm, and a big gaping hole in his stomach. Kaneki hadn't even noticed either of them, too afraid of looking closely at Hide's wounds and losing control of himself. Before he could stare too much at the blood, Kaneki tore his eyes away and took a few steps back.

“I…! I…!”

“It’s okay, Kaneki, calm down. I’m fine for now but I won't be if I don't get help.”

“No, no, Hide, you don’t understand! I’m not queasy, I...!” Kaneki stopped right there. He was the complete _opposite_ of queasy, but he couldn’t _say that_! He wanted to help—he had to!—but he couldn’t risk it.

“Kaneki, I... I know. I’ve known all along. It’s okay. I still want your help.”

Kaneki’s blood ran cold. His thoughts raced. _Hide knew?! Since when? How? Why isn't he screaming? Why isn't he scared? Why isn't he scrambling away? Pleading for his life?_

_He knew all along…_

_I just contacted him today asking him to dinner, randomly after six months of being missing, and he accepted it knowing that I am a ghoul?! It was a late dinner! Didn’t he ever consider that maybe_ **_he_ ** _was the dinner instead? He acted so_ **_casual_ ** _around me!_

“Kaneki!” Hide yelled. Kaneki flinched and focused his attention back on Hide. “I don’t know how this affects you, but I seriously need help. Please.”

“But, if you kn-know, then don’t you think—? I mean, aren’t you—?” Kaneki stammered. He raised his thumb to his mouth and started biting down on it, trying to dampen his instincts screaming at him to eat.

“I trust you.”

“And I don’t…” Kaneki squeezed his eyes shut. 

“Kaneki. I’m _dying_.”

That yanked him back to reality. He had been around ghouls for far too long. Hide was human. He couldn’t survive this. Not without help. Even then, his chances might be slim. Of course Kaneki had to risk it.

Kaneki slowly crouched back down, but couldn’t help that his eyes were drawn again to Hide’s wound.

“Hold on.” Hide spoke, snapping Kaneki out of it. “Ghouls wear masks, right? Put yours on.”

“Why? No.” Kaneki shook his head as he drew back again. “Y-you’ll see my kakugan, Hide. I don’t want you to.” He self-consciously held a hand against his eyepatch. He had to make sure it was still secured and that Hide wasn't able to see his kakugan.

“It’ll be obvious that you’re not human if you show up without a scrape. You’re Eyepatch, aren’t you? The mysterious ghoul that has never killed a human. Who… just got into a turf war with a feeding ghoul. And decided to take pity on the poor human who was still alive and rescue him.”

Kaneki’s eyes widened. Hide was a genius! How could he be so quick-thinking in a situation like this?!

He pulled off his eyepatch, and reached into his back pocket to trade it for his mask. Hide’s eyes widened once his kakugan was visible. But it was in awe, not fear. Kaneki hoped Hide didn’t know that the only reason it was already activated was because he was injured and bleeding…

He slipped his mask on and then slowly reached out. He made sure Hide showed no signs of panicking, and then he carefully picked him up.

“I’m so sorry.” Kaneki said as he began moving towards the nearest hospital. “This never would have happened if I didn’t come back.”

“It’s not… your fault.” Hide said through a hiss of pain as he tried to position himself as comfortably as possible.

“Yes it is. I recognized that ghoul. He hated me and tried to kill me before. He could have waited until I was alone to fight, but no. He tried to knock me out and take you out first. To get stronger, to anger me, I don’t know why. But I’m sure it wasn’t just a coincidence you were there when he attacked."

“It doesn’t matter. I’m glad you came back. I’m sorry for making you eat that food earlier. It was probably disgusting to you, huh?”

“Hide, please don’t talk about food right now.”

“Oh, right. Sorry.” 

“I’m fine…” Kaneki whispered, more to himself than to Hide. 

“After we get through this, you better not avoid me again. I want to be with you, Kaneki."

"W-why?" Kaneki asked.

"Cuz you're my best friend, idiot!" Hide chuckled and then winced.

\--- 

They saw a few people on the streets, but they all screamed and ran once they saw Kaneki's mask.

"Oi! He needs medical help!" Kaneki tried to call out, but they either didn't hear, didn't believe him, or simply didn't think it was worth the risk.

Kaneki swore under his breath and kept walking. Hide reached out and managed to yank Kaneki's hood on. He hissed in pain as he did it.

"What are you doing?" Kaneki asked. "Stop. Don't hurt yourself worse."

"Yeah, that was a bad idea." Hide's eyes were screwed shut in pain. "Don't give away your identity but try to make yourself look, y'know, less scary? Not that _I'm_ scared but obviously others don't want to risk getting close to a ghoul. Can you turn your eye back? Or make it glow a little less?"

"I wish I could..." Kaneki muttered.

\---

"Hide, you okay? " Kaneki asked.

There was no answer.

"Hide!"

"Hm? What, Kane...ki?"

"Hide, stay with me, okay? We're here, see?"

Kaneki gently set Hide down and then started banging on the hospital door. He made sure to keep his hood up and his head tilted so that who was inside wouldn’t be able to see his mask or eye. After a moment, he glanced up to make sure someone had heard him. Inside, he saw a woman yelling orders and making hand gestures, before running over and throwing open the door. Three men with a gurney hurried behind her. The woman immediately dropped to her knees and checked Hide’s vitals. Kaneki didn't move from where he was, and he just stared at Hide as the woman checked on him.

_He’s gonna be okay. He has to be okay._

"We need to get him inside now!" The woman yelled.

The men behind her didn’t budge.

The woman then looked up at Hide's savior, and Kaneki heard her gasp. He looked up at her, and he saw pure fear in her eyes.

"Kobayashi-san..." One of the nurses behind her whispered.

Kaneki glanced at them. They were holding the gurney and looked like they were about to help, but they were hesitating and looked afraid. Afraid of him.

"Don't just stand there! He needs help!" The doctor snapped. Kaneki looked back at her. The fear in her eyes was gone, now replaced with determination. 

Kaneki slowly backed away so they could all do their job while feeling a little less threatened. Just as Hide wanted him to, Kaneki didn't take off his mask or deactivate his eye. He knew he had to keep his identity a secret. But he wasn’t going to leave until Hide was out of sight.

“You… saved him, didn’t you?” The doctor asked as the nurses carried Hide off.

Kaneki gave a curt nod, before silently turning away. He released his kagune and used it to launch himself to scale a nearby building.

The doctor watched as he left.

"...Thank you."

\---

Hide stared at the TV in his hospital room, bored out of his mind. The last thing he remembered was that he lost consciousness from blood loss in Kaneki's arms, and he woke up here the next day, patched up but very sore. The doctors said they were going to keep him a few days, and he was sure the CCG would come and question him. He already had a story made up on how he got attacked and how Kaneki saved him.

“Excuse me, Nagachika-kun,” One of his nurses said as she opened the door a crack, “but… someone wants to see you.” 

_Kaneki?! I’m so glad you came!!! I’m so bored!!!_

_...Hold on! No! I shouldn’t be happy! You idiot! It’s too risky!_

“Should I let them in?” The nurse asked, after Hide didn’t answer immediately.

Hide was about to say no, but he didn’t want Kaneki to get the wrong idea. “Yeah, let them in.”

To his surprise, it wasn’t Kaneki who was here to visit him. Instead, it was a woman who looked very familiar, but Hide couldn’t place who she was.

“Hello, Nagachika-san.” She greeted him with a small bow as she approached his hospital bed.

“Um. Hi.” Hide replied awkwardly. Was he supposed to know her?

“Kaneki-san sent me here.” She explained.

 _So she's a ghoul? Why does she look so familiar?_

“I’m Kimi. Nishiki’s girlfriend.” She added.

“Oh! H-hello! I didn’t know you, uh, knew the secret…” Hide hinted. Her being here meant that she knew about Kaneki being a ghoul, right? He hoped he didn’t just screw up and complicate things.

“Oh, really? Yeah, I know about Kaneki-san and Nishiki and what Anteiku is.”

“And you’re human?” Hide asked in a softer voice.

She leaned in and whispered back, “Yes, I am. You as well?”

Hide nodded and smiled. “I thought I was the only human that knew!”

“Me too, until today!” Kimi smiled back.

“How is he? He better not be blaming himself.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t really know Kaneki-san too well. He said he knew he couldn’t come, and that you wouldn’t want him to. He didn’t want to ask any ghouls to come either, so he ended up asking me.”

“Thanks for coming.”

“It’s no problem. May I sit?”

“Of course!”

Kimi stayed for an hour or two to talk, and then she had to take off. They agreed to keep in touch and Hide gave her his number.

The CCG came later, as Hide expected. It was Amon, surprisingly enough. Amon said that he had requested to come once he heard that the attack was related to the Eyepatch ghoul, and was quite surprised when he saw that it was Hide who had been the one attacked. He seemed to buy Hide's lies about the incident, and he even stayed for a while to talk with him.

\---

Despite being in a foreign environment, it didn’t take too long for Hide to fall asleep that night. And he was having a nice dream too, when a sudden loud noise woke him up. It sounded like a door opening. He sat up in bed, expecting a nurse to be coming in to check on him.

But the door hadn’t opened. 

_Then what was that noise?_ He looked around his room. _Did something fall or was it something from another room_ — _?_

He almost screamed when he saw a young girl standing in his hospital room. It was like something straight out of a horror movie. She was turned away from him, standing in front of the window and pushing it open. 

“Who the hell are you?!” Hide demanded, getting out of bed and marching over to her, intending to intimidate her.

With a thump, something landed on the windowsill, and Hide flinched. He looked up to see Kaneki dressed in all black and wearing his mask.

“Kaneki?! What the—?!”

“Shh!” Kaneki hushed, climbing inside. “Can I come in?” He pulled his mask off, and let his kakugan fade away.

“You’re already inside, but… of course. I just have one question.”

“Just one?” Kaneki asked, smiling amusingly.

“Okay, fine. I have _several_ . But what I really want to know _first_ is, who the hell is she?” He pointed to the girl at his side.

“…” Kaneki looked at the girl, then Hide, then at the girl again. He looked dumbstruck. “You didn’t tell him? How did you even get in here?”

“I got you inside, didn’t I? My work here is done.” The girl said, pivoting on her heel and walking away nonchalantly.

Kaneki groaned, covering his face. “Do I even want to know why you and Tsukiyama-san knew how to do this in the first place?”

“Probably not. You’re weird.” She replied. 

“Yeah, I’m the weird one.” Kaneki muttered as he rolled his eyes.

“Um, excuse me? Anyone want to answer my question?!” Hide asked.

“Sorry. She’s a friend of a friend.” Kaneki explained.

“I’m Chie Hori.” She introduced.

“Hideyo—” Hide tried to introduce himself as well, but she interrupted.

“I know. He told me.”

“Oh.”

“Can I see your bite mark?”

“Hori!” Kaneki snapped.

“Huh?!” Hide asked, not even sure how to respond. 

With a huff, Hori walked away and plopped down on a chair. She fiddled with the camera around her neck.

“Is she a…?” Hide began.

“Nope. She’s human. Although I was pretty unsure at first, too…” Kaneki let his voice turn from amused to serious. “I’m sorry I didn’t visit earlier. I wanted to, but—”

“Kimi-san told me. It’s fine, you did the right thing. But, I’ve gotta admit I’m happy you found a way to see me anyway.”

“How are you?”

“I’m okay. I’m on painkillers right now so the pain isn’t too bad.” Hide said, sitting on his bed and patting next to him, offering Kaneki a seat, who accepted it. "And I lost a lot of blood and I’m still a bit lightheaded. The doctors said I got lucky. Everything will heal though, don’t worry.”

"I'm really glad you're okay. Kimi-san said you seemed fine but I was still worried."

Hide smiled. "Thanks to you, Eyepatch!" _Eyepatch. Right._ "Hey! You never told me you met Amon-san!" _I mean, you never told me anything cuz you left, but how weird is it that you know the guy I'm working with now?_

"Who?" Kaneki asked.

"Investigator. Really tall. Black hair."

"How do you know investigators?" Kaneki gave him a look.

_Whoops._

"Koutarou Amon. Investigator First Class. Rumored to be raised by a ghoul who butchered children." Hori said casually.

"Wait what?" Hide asked. _Raised by a ghoul?_ The last part of what she said was still registering in his head.

"Ugh." Kaneki grimaced. "Please tell me he got exterminated."

"Cochlea." Hori said.

"Why exactly?"

Hori shrugged. "He probably knows information the CCG wants."

As if learning about one of the worst ghouls out there wasn't enough, Kaneki now felt really awkward and guilty being the only ghoul in the room. Especially sitting next to his human friend, who Kaneki hadn't known until recently knew his secret.

"Wow. That's really messed up." Hide grimaced. He looked at Kaneki. "You okay? I told you already, I'm not afraid of you. And I don't think you, y'know, do anything awful. At least, not as awful as that. So don't worry."

"A-actually, I've been eating ghouls..." Kaneki said awkwardly. Ghouls instead of humans made it better, right? Or did that just make him more of a monster?

"I have pictures. Wanna see?" Hori said, sounding excited. She held up her camera.

"Huh? Since when?" Kaneki whined, covering Hide's eyes. "Hori, delete those!" 

"Haha!" Hori laughed. "I like this one. The disgusted face you’re making is so funny. Better than some weird pictures of Tsukiyama I've got."

Kaneki groaned. "Hori, please."

"What? It's not like I'm gonna do anything with ‘em. Even if someone saw them, you're masked so it's not like you’re in any danger. Besides, you're eating _ghouls_ , not humans like the pictures I take of Tsukiyama."

"Okay, exactly who is this girl?!" Hide cried out. "And Kaneki, I promise I won't look but can you please take your hands off my face?"

Kaneki did as his friend asked. "She's the human friend of the Gourmet ghoul."

“She’s really a human?” Hide asked doubtfully.

“Yup.”

“And I’m 24!” Hori cried out.

“No. Really.” Hide said, not believing it.

“It’s true, she is. I didn’t believe it either.” Kaneki said as he crossed his arms.

Hide gave Hori a skeptical look. He couldn’t tell if they were both messing with him or not.

Hori sighed and reached into her pocket. She pulled out a wallet, jumped off the chair, and came over and held out her ID for Hide to see. It confirmed her age as 24.

Hide sighed and rubbed his neck. “Okay, fine, I believe you. Sorry.”

“No one ever does...” Hori muttered.

Kaneki watched her as she walked back to sit on the chair. Then he turned back around, and was surprised to see that Hide had been staring at him.

“What?” Kaneki asked.

“Nothing.” Hide said quickly, glancing away. Then he looked back and continued. “I’m glad you’re here. It’s... been a while.”

Kaneki looked down. “Oh. That’s why.”

“What?” Now it was Hide’s turn to be confused.

“I’ve changed a lot. I’m sorry.”

“Change isn’t anything to be sorry about. I’ve changed too. I mean, have you seen my hair? It’s basically a mullet!”

“My hair is white...” Kaneki whispered. He knew he was stating the obvious, but he felt like it had to be said. It was something that seemed impossible, but it was real. “It’s not... It’s not dyed. It just... turned white.”

“You’re getting old, man!” Hide joked, playfully smacking Kaneki on the back. Kaneki flinched at the sudden contact.

 _Or stressed._ Hide’s mind provided another explanation for the white hair. He then remembered that Kaneki had been taken by Aogiri, and only released after the CCG’s raid. He winced.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean...! That was insensitive...” Hide cursed at himself in his head. 

_Stupid! No wonder Kaneki left you!_

Kaneki frowned at him, looking concerned. “Hey, it’s okay. What’s wrong?”

“I...” Hide paused. “I don’t know most about what’s happened to you since you became a ghoul. But I know that some of it... has not been good. And some of it’s been really, _really_ bad. I’m sorry if I say anything that’s insensitive or shouldn’t be said or brings up bad memories.”

Kaneki sighed and nodded slowly. “…A lot of it has been bad. But I’m trying to put it all behind me now and move on.”

“And I know that I can’t relate, and that I probably won’t even be able to understand most of it. But still, I... I want to be here next to you and help support you, Kaneki!”

Hide reached out and squeezed Kaneki’s hand. Kaneki looked at their hands, but didn’t pull away. 

“You... You do?”

“What did I say yesterday? I want to be with you and help you!”

“You can’t. It’s not safe.”

“I know that I’m just human. I know that there’s a lot that I can’t do. But I want to help however I can. I’ll be careful, I swear, Kaneki!”

Kaneki closed his eyes. It looked like he was debating it in his head. He seemed conflicted. And also sad and lonely.

“...Can I hug you?” Hide asked.

Kaneki opened his eyes and looked at Hide. He hadn’t expected a request for a hug. Hide was giving him a hopeful smile.

“...Yeah.” Kaneki said.

Hide grinned and came closer. He moved faster than Kaneki had expected with those wounds, and gave him a bear hug with his good arm. Kaneki smiled to himself as he gently embraced Hide back, taking care not to hurt him.

He felt Hide cup the back of his head in his hand, and then run his fingers through his hair.

“It’s so soft...”

Kaneki brought his own hand up and played with the tips of Hide’s hair. They were stiff from the bleach. “And yours still isn’t.”

“I can help you dye your hair back to black if you want.”

“Nah, I think I’ll keep it white.”

“Okay. It looks good on you.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Hori had finished flipping through her camera, and she began to walk around Hide’s hospital room. She walked over to the counter, where a few bowls sat. She reached into one and took a handful of mixed nuts as well as a lollipop, and then returned to where she had been sitting. She leaned back and lounged in the seat as she popped the nuts into her mouth, eating one at a time.

Kaneki pulled out of their hug.

“So, where have you been hiding out all this time?” Hide asked. “If that’s okay to ask.”

Kaneki shrugged. “I guess it’s fine. I’ve been in the 6th Ward.”

“And, I’m guessing you haven’t been completely alone there?” Hide glanced at Hori. “I’m glad.”

Kaneki smiled a little. “Yeah, I’m with a few friends.” He glanced over at Hori too. “Hey! Hori-san, stop!”

“What?” Hori asked innocently with a mouthful.

“You can’t just—!”

Hide put a hand on Kaneki’s shoulder to calm him down. “It’s fine, I don’t mind.” He felt Kaneki untense. “I’d offer you some too but, you know.”

“Sorry.” Kaneki whispered.

“Hey, no apologies. It’s fine.” Hide rubbed his back. “So who’ve you been with? Anyone I know?”

“I don’t think so. They’re some new friends of mine. They aren’t even from this ward.”

“Really? How’d you meet?”

“That’s a long story.” Kaneki sighed. “I guess the short version is that, they helped me out when I got into trouble. I decided I wanted to look into some things and they offered to help so I asked them to—” Kaneki suddenly cut off his sentence and went silent, his expression neutral but focused.

“Kaneki...?” Hide asked.

“Someone’s coming!” Kaneki whisper-yelled. He jumped off the bed and crawled under it.

Hide fixed the sheets so that you couldn’t tell someone had been sitting there, and then laid back down flat in bed and closed his eyes, pretending to be sleeping.

“Hori!” Kaneki snapped in a whisper, sticking his head out from under the bed.

Hide opened his eyes, and saw that Hori was still sitting on the chair on the other side of the room.

“Huh?” She asked innocently, not lowering her volume.

“Shh!” Kaneki whispered. He quickly crawled out, grabbed her, and then pulled her along with him to hide under the bed.

Hide closed his eyes again.

Just in time too, because then he heard the door open and a nurse step inside. He could hear as she walked around the room, checking on things.

 _Please be quick. Please don’t find Kaneki._ Hide begged, repeating and chanting it in his head.

Meanwhile, Kaneki and Hori were squished together as they tried to both fit underneath the small hospital bed. Kaneki was nervous, his heart pounding. But Hori looked completely unfazed. She had a lollipop stick sticking out of her mouth. She turned her head to look at Kaneki, and he had to pull back so that it didn’t poke him in the face.

Finally the nurse left, and after giving it a few seconds to make sure she was gone, Kaneki and Hori crawled out from under the bed.

“That was close.” Hide said.

“Yeah it was…” Kaneki agreed.

Hori said nothing as she went back to sit.

“Does _anything_ phase her?” Hide asked.

“I don’t know her too well, but not from what I’ve seen.” Kaneki replied.

“Oh, you don’t? So she’s not one of these friends you mentioned?”

“Not exactly. Like I said, she’s a friend of a friend. She has quite a few resources and she offered to help me out.”

Hide nodded slowly. “Any other humans there?”

“No, everyone else is a ghoul. She’s the only human.”

“Right. You said you’ve got like, your own gang or something?”

Kaneki made a face. “I wouldn’t call it a _gang_ , but yeah, I have a group.”

“And you go on missions and stuff?”

“Yeah, sometimes.”

“So you went off and became a vigilante, huh?”

Kaneki rolled his eyes. “I’m just trying to find information on my doctor who did this to me.”

“Let me pretend. Vigilante sounds cooler.”

Kaneki sighed. “Alright.”He glanced at the clock. “It’s late. I should let you get some sleep.”

Hide pouted. He was tired, but he didn’t want Kaneki to leave.

“Will you come back?”

“I don’t know if it’s the best idea for me to break into a hospital again.” Kaneki said awkwardly.

“Well, when I’m discharged, will you come back? I’ll text you and let you know.”

Kaneki looked down, considering it. “Okay. Yeah, I’ll... I’ll come visit.”

Hide smiled. “Thank you.”

Kaneki walked back over to the window, and opened it up. He paused, and glanced back at Hori.

“Um, how did you leave last time?”

“Tsukiyama dropped me out the window.”

“Beg pardon?” Hide asked.

“Of course he did.” Kaneki shook his head. “Do you want a lift?”

“Sure. That is, if you promise not to eat me.”

“What? Why would I—? How do you trust me _less_ than Tsukiyama-san?”

“I’ve known him longer than you.”

“Okay, but… He’s Tsukiyama-san.”

“He’s said outright that I don’t interest him. You haven’t.”

“But I don’t eat humans!” Kaneki groaned and covered his face. “Hori, I’m not going to eat you.”

Hori narrowed her eyes. “We’ll see…” 

Kaneki sighed in exasperation, then glanced up at Hide. “See ya.”

“Bye.”

Kaneki picked up Hori, and then he released his kagune and jumped out the window, impaling the kagune in the sides of the building. He slipped the window closed with his foot, waved one last time, and then hoisted the two of them down to the ground with his kagune.

Once he was gone, Hide laid back in bed, smiling.


End file.
